Welcome to the High Level Games Blog, News, and other stuff to take your games to the next level!

Well, that season is upon us again, and now you’re debating between a scarf or sweater for those special ones you love. Ask yourself: why settle for mediocrity? Again and again we find ourselves in Bath & Body Works or Ms. Naughty’s Nighties looking for that special gift (under $20.00) to bring to the office gift exchange. If this holiday is going to mean what it really means, then invest some cash to bring some true joy to the season. Let’s stick our love under the tree or at very least drop some hints for others as to what we want. And what do we want? Well, it’s what we always want: game.

1) THE DICE TO END ALL DICEThe fine folks over at Artisan Dice have pretty much come up with every kind of quality dice you could ever want. From carbon fiber to brass to elk bone, Artisan Dice lets you design your own set and then have a trained craftsman manufacture them to your specs. I’m pretty dead inside but even I was impressed that they manufacture “specialty” from both amber and aged Jack Daniels Oak whisky barrels. Prices ranged from around $30 to over $500. Find them geared up for your Christmas needs at www.artisandice.com and check out the history they have compiled on the worlds oldest D20 under Ptolemaic D20. AMAZING.

2) MORE ABOUT DICESo now that you have those ever so sweet brilliantly gleaming dice, what are you going to do with them when you’re not playing? Pencil case? Felt bag? Don’t be absurd, those dice deserve better than that, these dice are fancy dice, these dice are family. So treat them like your ever beloved great aunt and stick em’ in Peruvian Walnut dice vault. Wyrmwood Quality Gaming Supplies makes an amazing assortment of boxes and vaults from a variety of common and rare woods to meet any budget, and if you have something unique in mind probably could bang it out for you in their custom workshop. See their online catalog at wyrmwoodgaming.com. Kick Ass Gaming gear is also a purveyor of fine wood product to serve your dice holding needs. Ranging from Dragon sheathes that hold your dice, a figurine and a pencil to their beautifully hand crafted and intricate Dice towers, where you drop the dice down through the tower and your roll appears on the felt lined draw bridge.

3) ENOUGH ABOUT THE DICEIn a world of 3D printers the gamer is king. Hero Forge caters to the king in the form of customizable miniatures for any character you are currently playing. Hero Forge offers convenience and quality to gamers out there who want to hold a part of their imagination in their hands. Figurines are manufactured to match the commonly used 30mm scale and once designed by you (all the way down to the expression on the figurines face), they send it to your front door. Haters don’t hate, just go to their website at www.heroforge.com and do a character design trial before you order. Their eye for detail is apparent.

4) IT WON’T FIT IN YOUR STOCKING LIKE DICE BUT IT’S PRETTY AWESOMEWhat I’m about to say doesn’t really fit with the giving theme of the holiday season but it’s what has to happen. So go out and buy D&D’s The Storm King’s Thunder to give to someone and then just keep it and play it with your friends. It’s awesome, it came out in September, it’s 256 pages of adventuring, investigating and giant killing, and it’s 5e so it’ll be better than you can even believe. If you already own it then actually go buy it for someone you know in another group as a Christmasy thing. If you want to give it to your cousin Eddie then I would say you should at least buy him the D&D starter set first… and then the Player's Handbook… maybe the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Anyway, buy some 5e for someone you love this Christmas, namely yourself.

All of this stuff is available online so get in line with the holiday spirit and start spending. Well that’s my season wish list. Whoa, I mean gift list. I hope my wife reads this. Happy holidays.